For Blackalicious’ major-label debut, members Gift of Gab and
\nChief Xcel recruited some of the most prolific and promising
\nartists in hip-hop as well as rock. The amazing thing is
\nBlackalicious’ lyrical and studio skills are so solid that even
\nwith high profile guests such as Ben Harper, Zach De La Rocha and
\nmembers of The Roots, a listener’s attention seldom wavers from the
\nGift of Gab and Chief Xcel.<\/p>\n
\nBlazing Arrow<\/i> may be considered a debut album, but
\nBlackalicious members are anything but rookies; the group has
\nreleased three underground albums and spent more than 10 years
\nplaying clubs. Who says underground is just one mode?” the band
\nasks in the head-bobbing “4000 miles.” Blackalicious bucks this
\nperception by adding elements of rock, R&B and soul throughout
\nBlazing Arrow<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Some artists pass themselves off as prolific by trying to
\nincorporate as many different musical elements as they can into
\ntheir work. However, this doesn’t mean anything if an artist can’t
\npull off the genre switch. Blackalicious need not worry with
\nBlazing Arrow<\/i>. “Aural Pleasure” has the soulful groove that
\nhas evaded Prince for a dozen or so releases. “First in Flight” has
\nthe funk of vintage Isaac Hayes, and most of the lyrics on the
\nalbum come close to rivaling the political bombast of old-school
\nPublic Enemy.<\/p>\n
Blackalicious shares much of the enthusiasm and positivity of
\nPublic Enemy when it comes to social consciousness. Oddly enough,
\ntheir positivity is one of the chief blasts I have read against the
\nalbum. Apparantly rapping about the joys of graduation didn’t cut
\nit for some critics. However, there’s plenty of gritty realism
\nspread throughout
\nBlazing Arrow<\/i>. The chief message throughout the album:
\nlife’s struggles may be hard, but it is through these hardships
\nwhere people feel the most alive. The most ambitious track on
\nBlazing Arrow is the nine-minute epic “Release.” The song features
\nZach De La Rocha on the chorus, but the song is divided into three
\nparts. The most stunning part of “Release” comes midway through
\nwhen acclaimed poet Saul Williams contributes a stinging poem under
\na restrained beat.<\/p>\n
In 1992, Xcel befriended DJ Shadow at the University of
\nCalifornia. Shadow eventually would go on to record
\nEndtroducing<\/i>, one of the landmark albums of the 1990s.
\nAlthough Blackalicious has not achieved the critical recognition of
\nDJ Shadow or the commercial success of The Roots as of yet,
\nBlazing Arrow<\/i> should change this. At seventeen tracks, this
\nalbum contains little filler. The clever, rapid-fire lyrics of Gift
\nof Gab and the infectiousness of most of the tracks should find a
\nhome in many a car stereo for summers to come.<\/p>\n
Two thousand two was supposed to be a year when Eminem, The
\nRoots and Jurassic Five would duke it out for album of the year
\nhonors. With the release of
\nBlazing Arrow<\/i>, that race got a lot more interesting. You may
\nnot see them on MTV, but
\nBlazing Arrow<\/i> is a musical journey worth taking at a record
\nstore near you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6797],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-37520","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-blackalicious","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37520"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37520"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}